for a good cause (18 posts)

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Benicio Del Toro isn't monkeying around.

The Oscar winner is urging Puerto Rican Gov. Luis Fortuño to halt construction of a massive primate-breeding facility in the city of Guayama. Bioculture's monkey-making factory would be supplying the animals to laboratories to be poked, prodded and tested upon.

"[Bioculture] plans to breed thousands of these intelligent animals and lock them in cages before sending them off to laboratories around the world to be used in painful, deadly experiments," the Traffic star writes in a letter to the governor. "Won't you please use your influence as governor to stop this from happening on our beautiful island?"

Then come the threats…

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Fight club is so 1999. Edward Norton's now forming his own running club.

The 40-year-old Hulkster has announced he's lacing up with three Maasai warriors to run the New York Marathon on Nov. 1 as part of an effort to raise funds and awareness on behalf of a Kenya-based conservation organization.

"We came up with the idea of raising funds by fielding a team of runners because the Maasai are born runners, runners as a matter of culture and heritage," says Norton. "I've never run a marathon before and the difficulty of it is both intimidating and motivating, especially when it's for a cause like this."

Norton, who confirmed earlier this week that he'd guest star on the new ABC show Modern Family, and the tribesmen will lead a team of 30 runners in the 26-mile trek to promote the Maasai Wilderness Conservation Trust, which benefits the Maasai people and the fragile ecosystem they inhabit.

Run, Eddie, run.

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You wouldn't like him when he's angry. E! Online takes a look back at Norton's The Incredible Hulk.

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New albums really bring out the best in people, don't they?

Even A-listers like Jay-Z use do-gooding to not-so-subliminally promote their latest records. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

It's difficult to pooh-pooh Hova's efforts to set up a Sept. 11 benefit concert, dubbed Answer the Call, at Madison Square Garden in New York City on the eighth anniversary of that fateful day. One hundred percent of the proceeds will go to the New York Police and Fire Widows' & Children's Benefit Fund.

Fuse is set to air the special show simultaneously in commercial-free HD.

We love seeing stars step up like this, but we can't help but note that the rapper's 11th studio album, Blueprint 3, comes out that very same day.

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We love it when stars try to heal the world, don't you? See all the do-gooders here!

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No one is trying to diminish all the global good Angelina Jolie has done in recent years (and we're not just talking about her contribution to the world's collective gene pool).

But we can't help but wonder if the actress turned UNHCR ambassador, who arrived in Iraq with son Maddox yesterday to visit people internally displaced by the nation's ongoing violence, isn't maybe looking to take some of her work back home with her?

And by work, we mean another adorable addition to the ever-welcoming Jolie-Pitt brood. It has been nearly 13 months since the family restocked its ranks, after all.

Besides, there's no mistaking that motherly glow. Unless, of course, we're mistaken.

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See, it's work like this that got Angelina a spot in our Do-Gooders gallery.

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Some of Australia's biggest stars participated in a telethon yesterday to aid victims of this week's deadly bushfires ravaging the state of Victoria, among them Nicole Kidman and husband Keith Urban, who personally donated more than $300,000 in relief funds.

"As Australians, I think the biggest thing is that, no matter where you are in the world, we support each other and we rally," the 41-year-old Australia actress said in a message delivered live via satellite. "That's why we wanted to show our support and we would like to donate 500,000 Australian dollars [$327,000 U.S.] on behalf of our family to the families that need it now."

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She might be best known for her freaky-fun swan dress at the 2001 Oscars, but Icelandic diva Björk is now pushing the envelope in a whole new way—venturing into the world of venture capital.

Forbes reports that the singer has teamed up with Reykjavik-based Audur Capital to raise money to invest in sustainable businesses in Iceland, most notably green energy.

The worldwide financial crisis has hit particularly hard on the massively indebted island nation of 320,000, which was pushed into the red by the same sketchy financial schemes and practices that prompted the recent Wall Street meltdown and the U.S. mortgage crisis.

The edgy singer is lending her name to the cause and putting her money where her mouth is, investing some of her own cash in the fund, which is expected to raise $16.5 million by the end of March. Kudos to our favorite kooky-cool diva for doing the right thing.

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Yep, we've got a word for stars who really like to keep the "celeb" in cause célèbre. And you could look it up, because it's right there in our new Celebrity Addictionary. We call those good folks actorvists, like lovely Hayden Panettiere above doing her bit for sea mammals or Brad Pitt helping out Katrina victims with his Make It Right project.

Which got us to thinking: If actorvists get all this groovy positive publicity for their actorvism, what's a good word for the opposite type of attention? I just cooked up one and added it to the Addictionary: train-wreckognition, which I defined as "getting publicity or attention for all the wrong reasons" and gave this usage example: "At this point in his alleged career, train-wreckognition is better than no recognition at all for Andy Dick."

Now it's your turn to cook one up or browse this addictive new feature.

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The rom-com Win a Date with Tad Hamilton is so 2004. But ’08 is all about scoring a date with Scarlett Johansson.

That’s right—a date with the sexy starlet and two tickets to her upcoming flick, He’s Just Not That into You, are up for auction on eBay!

ScarJo fans have until Mar. 12 to win some one-on-one time with the actress, who is raising money for Oxfam America, an agency that campaigns for change in global practices and policies that keep people in poverty.

How very Angelina of her!

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It's official, Nicole is the patron saint of young Hollywood—and our favorite reformed starlet. Say what you will about her—we've yet to see Paris, Britney or Lindsay redeem themselves to the extent that Nic did today.

She and baby daddy Joel Madden visited the Los Angeles Free Clinic, where they distributed 100 Mom-to-Be Kits to expectant and new mothers from low-income backgrounds, all to kick-start the Richie-Madden Children's Foundation.

"We are so fortunate to have so much. Instead of just getting more for us, we both wanted to give back to moms and other families," Nicole said in a statement on the couple's new Website, richiemaddenfoundation.com.

And the bitch looked hotter than ever—despite being eight months pregnant.

Whatevs, you deserves that glow, Nic!